MADE Maven October Issue MADE Magazine | Page 61

MADEUS THE REAL LIFE OF A DIGITAL Influencer MADE BY ASHLEY WHITE There are so many ways to define “influencer” but that doesn’t take away the responsibility that comes with the title. MADE sat down with three digital influencers—Hermela, Vicky Logan and Sopha Rush, for an inside look at the lives of those we admire online. What was your big “influencer break”? I started influencing about 2 years ago, right before I started my senior year in college. The biggest reason as to why I started my YouTube channel all had to do with wanting to connect with more like-minded people. Throughout my life I always struggled with accepting and maintaining my curls. When I finally felt confident and unapologetic about who I was and what I looked like, I felt so empowered to share my knowledge and advice with others. I would say I had multiple little “influencer breaks” where my posts/videos would get shared and reposted all throughout Instagram. I believe the key to my growth related to me being consistent and producing high quality work. makeup, begin filming and producing content for that week. It can be stressful, but also rewarding to see how far I’ve come. There’s so many ideas/definitions of what an influencer is and what they do? What does the term “influencer” mean to you? An influencer to me, is able to share parts of their life, knowledge, or interests with various types of people. An influencer can connect like-minded people who share the same fears and realities in life. This journey has helped me feel so impactful in so many different people’s lives. What does a typical day look like for you? Is being an influencer/content creator your full-time job? At this moment, I am currently a full time Financial Analyst while also maintaining my Blogger life whenever I am out of the office. Although it’s a lot of work, it challenges me to be efficient, hardworking, and organized with my time. Once I get off work, I rush home, apply a full face of #mademaven 61